#1 Messiah Too Much to Handle for Spartans

Sep 30, 2009

GRANTHAM, PA – The York College women’s soccer team
dropped a 7-1 decision to #1 ranked Messiah College in a
non-conference contest in Grantham, PA on Wednesday evening. The
Falcons improve to 9-0-1 while the Green and White fall to 7-2-1.

After the Falcons opened the game with a pair
of shots, the Spartans earned a corner kick 3:12 into the game.
Steph Mergler (Street, Md./North Harford) took the
corner kick and found the head of freshman Kat Sipes
(Baltimore, Md./Institute of Notre Dame) who drove the
header home for the game’s first goal, giving the Spartans
the very early lead.

That lead lasted exactly 4:49 as the
Falcons’ Erin Hench received a pass from Amy Horst and
drilled the ball inside the left post. The Falcons took the lead
for good 1:09 later as Amanda Naeher received a pass from Hench and
hit a near post shot that Spartan netminder Sarah Spanarkel
(Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) couldn’t keep a
handle on as the Falcons took the 2-1 lead.

The Falcons added to the lead with three more
first half goals as Naeher completed the natural hat trick with a
goal in the 18th minute and a third in the
29th minute. Olivia Scott closed out
the first half scoring with a goal in the 30th minute,
giving the Falcons a 5-1 halftime advantage.

The hosts completed the scoring with a pair of
second half goals from Leah Sipe and Tannia Nieto.

The Falcons outshot the Spartans 25-2
including 15-2 in shots on goal. Messiah also held a 7-1 edge in
corner kicks.

Autumn Reilly earned the win in goal as she
allowed a goal in her 67:51 of work. Shalisa Brubaker registered
one stop in her 22:09 in between the pipes.

Spanarkel made five saves in her 45 minutes of
action while Desiree Halaka (Southampton ,
N.Y./Southampton) had three stops in her 45 minutes in
goal.

The Spartans return to action on Tuesday,
October 6 when they host Franklin & Marshall in a
non-conference contest at Graham Field. Game time is set for 4:30
pm.